Have had many new plants cut off an inch or two above ground by
rabbits.
MB



On Mon, 21 Apr 2003 15:48:16 GMT, Frau Himmel
wrote:

My gardener-wife has just completed the
Spring garden, 20' X 30'. She has included
Many tomato plants (for frying green!) and
Japanese egg plants. They stand nearly a
foot high. For two nights in succession,
Something has cut two tomatos and three
egg plants off @ 2.5 inches off the ground.
It's a clean cut, almost surgical. Doesn't
seem anything was eaten, just severed.
Now she has put Sevin and diazanon
around the remaining plants. We have
lots of squirrels and a few racoons, but
I don't think they're that neat!.

1. What is doing this? and
2. How would you prevent it continuing?

TKS,
Scott

On Thu, 24 Apr 2003 05:33:41 GMT, Scott McCall
wrote:

[...]

Lots of good suggestions, even some by email. Seems
this is a universal problem. If we catch the felon in the
act, we will share the identity. The various plants are
now encircled with foil, paper cylinders, cans. It is
possible that all the athletic pests are thwarted, and
have left to find better cutting elsewhere, although ours
is the only garden for 5 houses in all directions!

Wife caught only one of those little black
grasshoppers that turn into Big grasshoppers maybe
4" long, fat and juicy when squished. (Our cairn terrier
Loves to catch them, hates the taste!) This is our best
guess so far. More to follow! Many THANKS to
all you helpful contributors.

Scott McCall


I would bet on cutworms. Early in the morning, pull back the mulch
carefully and look for holes in the ground about the diameter of a
pencil. Dig a bit and you will often turn up a 1-1 1/2" grey worm who
comes out in the evening to play Paul Bunyan.

"Pam" wrote in message
...
In our last fun filled episode, Tue, 22 Apr 2003 21:49:04 -0600,
"Dwayne" proclaimed:

An easier way to combat cutworms is to put a toothpick or nail into the
ground next to your plants. I understand that a cutworm has to circle
the
plant to cut it off. A nail or toothpick would prevent that. I tried it
and it works, as long as we are dealing with cutworms.

tacky top posting duly noted

(Where does it say that a person shouldnt post on top? Is it a rule made
up by the internet service? Could it possibly be just something that some
like to complain about?)

The point, which if you had read all the way to the bottom of the
post instead of lazily piling some screed at the top, was that
the culprit hasn't been identified.

(I did read the entire post and some of the posters mentioned the
possibility that it might be cutworms. They also listed ways to get rid of
cutworms. I listed an easier and more fool proof method than prevoiously
listed. I even made mention of the fact that it would work, as long as we
were dealing with cutworms.)

The plants are being cut at
about 2.5 inches off the ground, which is higher than the a
typical cutworm chews. A sticky trap might stop the baddie

(And also the helpful bugs such as lady bugs)

*and* allow it to be identified so that more specific precautions
might be taken in the future. Plus the original poster could let
those of us who are curious know what the beastie is.


Pam




---
"Oh no, not again."
- A bowl of petunias on its way to certain death

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Thank you, I stand corrected. However the ones I read said it is best to go
with the majority. Have you ever counted the top posts as compared to the
bottom posts on this newsgroup? Even the bottom posters don't always snip
the extra information out, so it didn't accomplish what was expected by
those who prefer to bottom post.

Have fun. Dwayne

"Pat Kiewicz" wrote in message
...
Dwayne said:


"Pam" wrote in message
.. .
In our last fun filled episode, Tue, 22 Apr 2003 21:49:04 -0600,
"Dwayne" proclaimed:

An easier way to combat cutworms is to put a toothpick or nail into
the
ground next to your plants. I understand that a cutworm has to circle
the
plant to cut it off. A nail or toothpick would prevent that. I tried
it
and it works, as long as we are dealing with cutworms.

tacky top posting duly noted

(Where does it say that a person shouldnt post on top? Is it a rule
made
up by the internet service? Could it possibly be just something that
some
like to complain about?)

Net etiquette (or 'netiquette): social rule or custom

And there are lots of netiquette pages.

Here's one (specifiac to top posting):

http://www.html-faq.com/etiquette/?toppost

And the online version of the book, Netiquette:

http://www.albion.com/netiquette/book/index.html

Regarding cutworms, I find wrapping a strip of paper around the tomato
stems
will ward them off. For transplanting things like lettuce, where you have
no
actual stem to wrap, I use a 'collar' around each plant. This can be made
from
old cereal boxes, cut in strips and stapled into rings, or yogurt tubs
with the
bottom cut out, etc.
--
Pat in Plymouth MI

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)